“I’ve been a fan because it first got here on,” admits a smiling Alfonso Ribeiro, chatting throughout a break from this TV Information Journal cowl shoot for the competitors sequence’ twentieth anniversary. “A dance present on TV — I used to be like, ‘Ooh, I received to test this out!’” the charming host says of falling in love with Dancing. “It took 19 seasons for me to get on as a contestant and now to cohost with Julianne [Hough], it’s unbelievable.”
When Dancing premiered in 2005, Ribeiro had loads of performing and directing gigs below his cummerbund. He’d been dancing since he started his profession at 8 years previous in Broadway’s The Faucet Dance Child. However one piece of fancy footwork caught out. He’d famously created what grew to become a staple of ’90s popular culture, an exaggerated dance known as “The Carlton,” for his rich-kid character on NBC‘s sitcom The Contemporary Prince of Bel-Air, a breakout position the place he performed the cousin to streetwise lead Will Smith.
In 2014, Ribeiro lastly had his likelihood to point out TV audiences a lot fancier strikes. He grew to become a contestant on Season 19 of Dancing and was paired with professional Witney Carson. The actor had a spectacular begin, scoring a 9 from every choose in Week 1. “Individuals don’t actually perceive what it takes to work for a complete week on a dance routine,” he says, “one thing you’ve by no means executed earlier than, stroll out onto that stage and be keen to not solely do it in entrance of America however get judged.”
However issues didn’t at all times go so easily in Ribeiro’s first time as a competitor. The actor shares that in a single rehearsal — for his Week 8 Batman-inspired cha-cha routine — his zip line throughout the ballroom jumped off the monitor, leaving him hanging about 15 ft above the bottom and not using a harness. “They tried to carry a ladder, however it was too quick,” he remembers. “They received one other ladder. I nonetheless needed to leap right down to it! This was a second that fortunately was not stay on tv.”
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Regardless of Ribeiro’s unplanned little bit of choreography, he and Carson went on to win the competitors, beating runners-up Sadie Robertson (Duck Dynasty) and professional Mark Ballas. “It’s the best second once you’re instructed by Tom [Bergeron] and Erin [Andrews] that you simply gained the Mirrorball,” Ribeiro displays.
Bergeron grew to become a power in Ribeiro’s profession, suggesting the actor succeed him as host of ABC‘s America’s Funniest Dwelling Movies, which he did in 2015. “Tom gave me nice recommendation: ‘They belief you. They love you. Belief and consider in your self. Be your self. ’ With out Tom, this doesn’t occur.”
Then, in 2022 for Season 31, Ribeiro returned to the dance ground to cohost the present alongside Tyra Banks. “We have been stay. There have been no industrial breaks. It was probably the most horrifying moments of my life understanding that for 2 hours-plus I had no alternative to go to the toilet. That was pure concern, y’all!” Ribeiro says with fun.
After Banks departed in 2023, Ribeiro grew to become the principle host, with Hough at his facet. What’s it that makes Ribeiro such a warming presence on our screens? “Connection to our professionals, the judges, the contestants, however most significantly, Julianne,” he admits. “We now have a second language the place we don’t even have to say issues. We acknowledge the comedic second and don’t really feel the necessity to rush.”
Expertise as a contestant additionally informs his present position. “You watch somebody make a mistake, acknowledge their mistake, after which flip round and proceed to the tip. We all know what it feels prefer to be in that scenario,” Ribeiro says. “I’ve such empathy for what they’re going by.”
The actor remains to be emulating the person who helped him get his dance shoe within the door, saying, “Tom was at all times the guts of this present,” he notes. “I attempt to be the loving father determine for the celebrities after they come over to me. I wish to be there for them with help, love, consolation and belief that they will obtain no matter they wish to obtain.”
Ribeiro has a number of dream celeb contestants. “I would like Will Smith. He retains saying he can get jiggy with it!” Ribeiro says, referencing his former costar’s well-known ’90s lyric. “Jennifer Love Hewitt can be incredible. She’s a fan and has been within the viewers many occasions. A buddy of mine, Steve Younger, Corridor of Fame quarterback for the 49ers. We love having nice NFL gamers. What this present does extremely nicely is join the guts to leisure. Usually, the [celebrities] who go a great distance are those who give their coronary heart.”
For a extra prolonged celebration of two decade of Dancing With the Stars, from unique interviews to retrospectives and must-see photographs, choose up a replica of TV Information Journal’s Dancing With the Stars twentieth Anniversary particular difficulty, obtainable for buy on-line at DWTS.TVGM2025.com and on newsstands August 29.